


Phil Lester's One Rule

by dnlndphl (hma1313)



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Birthday Party, Drunken Shenanigans, House Party, M/M, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-17
Updated: 2015-12-17
Packaged: 2018-05-07 07:08:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5447687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hma1313/pseuds/dnlndphl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Phil Lester has a rule. He never cheats. But it doesn’t seem to count when there’s alcohol and Dan Howell involved.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Phil Lester's One Rule

Who the hell had thought drinking on a school night was a good idea?

Dan silenced his alarm with a swipe of his finger, rubbing a tired hand across his face. He’d been up half the night already, waking up with a banging headache where he felt like his brain was too big for his skull, body feeling like it wasn’t his own, snapshots of memories from just hours before flashing in his mind’s eye like some kind of taunt for all the stupid shit he’d done when he’d been drunk.

To Dan’s annoyance or relief, he could remember the vast majority of the events of the previous night. It had been one of his friend’s eighteenth birthday parties, which he’d insisted that he hold on a Sunday when everyone had school the next day. It had started off innocent enough with bottles of Sprite and family friends there to give their best wishes, but it had soon turned into a typical eighteenth once the alcohol came out of the cupboard and another friend had arrived with a bottle of vodka.

Mistakes were made, Dan told himself as he stumbled to the bathroom in a state of drunkenness, stopping at the sink to swill mouthwash around his mouth in an attempt to get rid of the taste of the previous night and the slight hint of cigarettes still lurking at the back of his throat, because that only reminded him of Phil, and that wasn’t something he particularly wanted to think about right now.

Feeling slightly more human after he spit out the mouthwash, he glanced down at the bath mat, where he dimly remembered nearly passing out on when he’d got back, but by some serious willpower, mostly driven by the fact that he’d never hear the end of it if his parents had found his like that, and had actually managed to get himself to bed. The bathroom floor had been comfy, though. He’d never realised that before.

In his brother’s bedroom next door, the radio was playing; the sounds of BBC Radio 1 echoing down the hall. Had it always been this loud, or was it just the hangover making things seem louder than they actually were?

Probably the hangover, Dan thought as he ran the cold tap, splashing water onto his face to wake himself up before cupping his hands underneath the tap, bringing several handfuls up to his mouth to drink. His throat was so dry – why hadn’t he had water when he got back in last night? That was an amateur mistake, but one Dan made mainly not to attract his parents to the fact that he’d been drinking.

He went back to his room and started rifling through his wardrobe, the screech of metal on metal making him cringe more than was normal. He pulled out jeans, some random t shirt and a hoodie as he was in no particular mood to try today, and his mind decided that now would be a good time to take a wander down memory lane to the events of the night before.

-

_“Do you like the taste of cigs?” Phil asked. They were standing outside PJ’s house, along with some other guy that Dan knew from a class last year. Dan wasn’t entirely sure what he was doing here, standing outside PJ’s house with Phil Lester of all people, Phil Lester who smoked and had been to Download festival three years in a row, Phil Lester who seemed to live in his leather jacket, black skinny jeans and boots, Phil Lester who was nothing more than an acquaintance to Dan, Phil Lester who he said hi to occasionally but that was as far as it went._

_“I, uh, um, I’ve never… I don’t… do that.” Since when had he lost the ability to put together a cohesive sentence? Dan took another gulp of the vodka and Coke in his hand, the vodka and Coke that he’d made far too strong, so strong he could barely taste the vodka, but he didn’t care, it was alcohol and he needed some form of encouragement right now._

_Phil passed the cigarette to Chris, the other guy standing with them, who took a drag and coughed and spluttered for about fifteen seconds before passing it back. Phil took another drag of the cigarette himself, before looking at Dan with a contemplative look on his face._

_“I shouldn’t,” Phil said, looking Dan up and down. “But I…”_

_Then Phil took the three steps and closed the gap between him and Dan, and holy shit, Dan was kissing Phil Lester, how the hell did that happen? It was nothing like Dan had ever experienced, it wasn’t sloppy or too dry like his previous boyfriends, it was passionate and everything Dan had ever wanted from a kiss but never got before. It was over all too quickly, Phil taking a step back and looking at Chris who had an amused, but knowing, look on his face._

_“I should’t’ve…” Phil looked horrified. He was known for being an affectionate drunk, but this was a whole new level of oh shit, I really should not have done that. “I have a rule. I never cheat. But I… Fuck. If Harry finds out… Gimme some of that.”_

_Dan knew that now was probably not a good time to point out that the kiss they’d just shared definitely counted as cheating as Phil drank some of his drink. Then Phil was kissing him again, and Dan knew this was bad, he’d known Phil had a boyfriend, of course he had, but at the same time Dan kind of secretly wanted this, this drunken romance with the sixth form bad boy who he’d maybe or maybe not found attractive since they’d moved up into Year 12 and suddenly started spending time in the same room as each other._

_“You like the taste of cigs, then?” Phil asked when they stopped kissing. Dan smiled and mumbled something about it being alright before going inside, wondering what the hell had just happened and how this was even his life._

_They ended up outside and kissing again various times throughout the night. The last time, when PJ was about to open his presents and Phil had appeared in front of where Dan was sitting on the sofa, holding an unlit cigarette in between his fingers, tilting his head in the direction on the door, had definitely been the worst. Dan had followed, though he’d had suspicions where this was going to end up, and a friend had been clinging onto his arm, asking him if he was sure he really wanted to do this. It started with kissing, but this time was different because there wasn’t anyone with them, and it soon escalated. Dan could feel Phil’s fingers digging underneath the waistband of his boxers, his hand cool against Dan’s flesh, slipping southward and beginning to stroke his dick. It had been too long, it really had, since someone had touched Dan like this and it was good, so good, utterly incomparable to his own personal indulgences, and oh god –_

_The front door opened and they sprung apart, Dan choosing to look at the ground rather than the knowing look on the girl’s face, Phil rushing back inside. The evening was almost over; Dan’s dad was picking him up in half an hour, so he quickly made his excuses and went back into the house too. Phil dropped a kiss onto Dan’s head as he left, fingers lacing into his own, with broken promises and mumbles of “I’m sorry.”_

-

Dan avoided Phil for most of the day.

He’d confessed to Louise what had happened – Louise had drunk a bit too much (Dan blamed himself, he knew he’d made the vodka and Cokes too strong) and had left before he’d even kissed Phil for the first time. She’d spent most of the morning trying to prise the gossip out of him, and he’d eventually relented as they walked into town to get lunch, Dan making a wide berth of Phil standing smoking at the gates with his boyfriend.

“I kissed Phil, okay?”

“I knew it! Doesn’t he have a boyfriend, though?”

“Yeah.” Dan glanced at Harry as he and Louise walked past, feeling guilt slicing through him like a blade. “He does.”

-

Dan was lucky to not have many lessons that day. He only had one, and could have gone home after period two, but chose to stay in school for reasons he wasn’t going to admit to himself.

The talk in the common room quickly turned to PJ’s party during period five. Phil was there, doing most of the talking, and Dan sat silently, scrolling on his iPad and looking busy. He’d half expected everyone to give him that awful look people got when they’d done something terrible at a party, but that look had never come – instead he’d been told it wasn’t his fault, that Phil was the one in the wrong, and that this would all be forgotten about soon enough anyway.

Phil’s bag was near the table Dan was sat at. Phil sauntered over to his bag and picked it up, fumbling with the straps as he turned his attention to Dan.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m, so, so sorry.”

“It’s alright,” Dan said with a forced smile, and Phil left, although it wasn’t alright, not at all, and it probably never would be again.

-

It was Marcus’ eighteenth next.

The party was in full swing by the time Dan, Louise and PJ got there. There was a fold out table in the kitchen covered in various different types of alcohol and soft drinks, endless stacks of shot and pint glasses standing at one end. Dan decided he’d start with plain lemonade first, because he wanted to be sensible at this party, or as sensible as one could be when alcohol was involved.

Perhaps he’d thought too soon, as it didn’t take long for him to be adding questionable amounts of vodka into his lemonade and doing shots. Phil was there, drinking like he didn’t have the first day at his new job tomorrow, and had long since gone past the point of no return, wandering around the kitchen and kissing everyone on the cheek.

“You get more,” he mumbled when he got to Dan, who was standing near the fridge, leaning in and kissing him on the lips. There’d been another kiss earlier on in the evening near the kitchen sink, but that had been messy and quick, this was different. Ever since PJ’s party the other weekend Dan had been craving the feeling of Phil’s lips on his like this again, and now it was here, and it was perfect and everything was how he wanted it to be –

But it was over far too quickly, Phil going back to the drinks table and doing shots with the other guys.

Phil overdid it that night. The next thing Dan knew people were being sick, everyone thought he was drunk; he talked in an American accent for two hours (why? Why did he do such a thing?) and Phil spent at least two hours being well acquainted with the upstairs toilet.

“Where’s Phil?” Dan kept asking as he sat on the dining room floor, swaying from side to side, his limbs not co-operating with what he wanted them to do. His friends kept laughing at him, and he didn’t really know why, he just wanted Phil, but he wasn’t allowed upstairs, even though he kept trying: he’d started climbing the stairs and PJ had stopped him, telling him to sit down and he’d go and see how Phil was. Dan had also managed to drop his phone in the toilet – it tested its waterproofness at least, but now it was sitting upstairs in his bag out of harm’s way, and also well away from Dan sending drunk texts to people.

Phil went home at 11, along with a couple of others. Dan persuaded PJ and Louise he just wanted to say goodbye and was allowed to the door, even though his friends had been very hesitant to let him. Dan said goodbye to Phil, and somehow, it felt like goodbye to their entire relationship.

When Dan woke up the next morning, he could barely remember anything from the party, but he remembered kissing Phil.

-

Dan first noticed something was up when he noticed Harry no longer stood with Phil before school. Instead, Phil stood smoking by himself, bag over his shoulder and occasionally with his guitar leaning against the fence. Dan wondered if they’d broken up or something, but he didn’t want to ask Phil because they weren’t really speaking, and he didn’t want to ask anyone else for fear of ridicule and Louise bringing up the “Where’s Phil?” thing again.

So Dan ignored the feelings, and life carried on. UCAS applications were sent off and offers from universities came back, everyone was engrossed in revising for mock exams in January and panicking about how they hadn’t started their Christmas shopping yet and Dan would occasionally catch Phil’s eye across the common room, holding it for a couple of seconds before looking away, wondering why it felt like there was something between them and if it would ever go away.

Everything came to head at the New Year’s Eve party practically everyone in sixth form seemed to have been invited to, where Harry was seen getting off with some girl in the corner, and Phil was found at a table drowning his sorrows in whiskey.

Dan had just come with PJ and Louise, and didn’t want to think about Phil for this particular evening. He was drinking, but not the amount he’d drunk at Marcus’, as he wanted to remember the evening and he also knew it wasn’t acceptable to always be the drunken mess at the party, so he kept the amount of vodka in his lemonade low and the amount of water he’d drink when he got home high.

Someone turned the TV on at 11.55, ready to watch Big Ben chime midnight and the fireworks go off over London. Glasses of Buck’s Fizz were passed round, and as the countdown began, Phil was suddenly at Dan’s side. As Big Ben chimed midnight and everyone was yelling “Happy new year!” Dan and Phil stood in the middle of the room, one of only a few couples exchanging a kiss. Dan could taste the cigarettes and whiskey in Phil’s mouth, and he lost himself in it, breathing in the sharp smell that just screamed “Phil”.

“So I’ve been thinking,” Phil said when the kiss ended, “You wanna go out on a date sometime?”

“Sure,” Dan said, and then they were kissing again, and it seemed like everything might actually be alright after all.

**Author's Note:**

> hang out with me on [tumblr](http://pllsetskyonice.tumblr.com/) for a questionable mix of fandoms and ships


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